http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/10353818.Special_report__Should_Saints_expand_St_Mary_s_Stadium_/ What are your thoughts?
Stoneham must be resurrected. We can then flog St Mary's stadium to Pompey who can transport it to Portsmouth.
Good idea, save me a long walk. How big though and how do you convince the NIMBYs it's in their interest?
Should always be in the plans for the future, but too soon. We need to be secure in the PL and have stashed a bit of cash. The plans attached to the DVD revealed a major development as well as the football ground...could be good for the whole City if that particular area is upgraded. Will have to involve outsiders to make it financially viable, unless the Leihberrs are interested. I cannot see them putting in such large sums just for Saints...has to be more profit in it. I will get excited when Nicola tells me to get excited.
At some point something has to happen. I am a positive person but even I don't thnk we can conquer the world with 32,500 capacity and I'm sure Mr Cortese doesn't think like that either. This will be the biggest decision Cortese takes, not changing a manager or two
I can't see the point in expanding a stadium that is rarely sold out. There's always a couple of hundred seats spare. Spend the money on the training ground, not the stadium.
On a side note, the Manchester police have revealed that ManU regularly inflate the numbers that attend their games. Can't remember exactly, but one European match was attended by about 10K fewer than united said.
Olly, I actually partially agree with the first part about us not being sold out currently, however with success comes more interest and Cortese's decision is to decide when to believe that he can achieve glory and expand ahead of that.
That maybe where ST holders have to buy an extra euro game or two but maybe can't afford the midweek travel from Surrey so don't actually attend. Ps. Like the subtle change on your signature.
We are already spending the money on the training ground. The next step in the upgrading of the infrastructure must be either the expansion of the stadium, or building a new one. Our current average attendance this season is about 94% of our capacity, some of the shortfall being due to underselling of away teams' allocations. I am confident we could at least maintain this sort of percentage in a stadium of 45,000 or 50,000 capacity. Increased capacity is essential for the club's ambitions. I think the only question is, do we expand or build new?
I have to say I didn't actually read the Echo article so perhaps it was suggesting an expansion as long term. But in the next few years I can't see any reason to invest more money in the stadium.
I have no idea of costs and viability, but a huge advantage of a bigger ground is that there can be some cheaper seats to encourage people to come on a match by match basis. This will result in a larger pool of supporters, especially families. We should be encouraging fans to bring their kids. I feel strongly about this even though I will not benefit directly. If we carry on offering exciting football, our fan base will grow.
I agree, unless we really do start to progress very quickly. Then I think we'll strike while the iron is hot.
There must be some stats somewhere Fran, but I think we are not too bad at this. It always seems to be a good mix of crowd.
I have no knowledge of other crowds, but my impression is that we are a tad on the older side. I do feel though that a lot of people cannot afford the time or money for a season ticket...they are more likely to buy match tickets if it easier to get one. I have had no problem (less than I thought I would), but am quick off the mark as soon as the club e-mail me.
Nah, its not viable unless you are getting Champions League football & massive overdemand. For now, the new Sky TV deal from next season means clubs will get much more income from tv than they will matchdays, so bums on seats isn't an economic necessity. Who will fill these new seats? More corporates, more day-tripper stiffs, making the atmosphere worse. But I'm all for improving the stadium as its already showing its age badly and facilities are pretty poor for supporters. But clubs never bother with that as they know us mugs will pay for our seats regardless. So they'll spend more money on suites etc. It's folly to expect a bigger ground to equal cheaper seats. That will not happen whilst in the Prem, I guarantee it. The thing that would drive redevelopment would simply be Cortese thinking the ground isn't good enough for his ego/business plan (one and the same really). As you can see with the architecture going up at the training ground, Cortese likes a bit of style and I'm sure he'd like a more stylish looking stadium (hence the computer images released of a potential new look for SMS).
I agree about the cheaper seat comment CBK. I do wonder about an expansion though as it fits with Cortese's desire to be seen as a bigger fish. Although management of the seating could cause more corporate and less atmosphere, it could also allow us to shift the away fans somewhere else. They could be put on a higher tier, like Newcatle maybe. Away fans are important to the atmosphere but don't want them to apparent for the way team.
I don't think even the Liebherrs would be willing/capable to spend the amount of money quoted in that article if we want to go for the whole deal - 50k seats, train station, hotel, retail and leisure complex and all. We'd have to be at least challenging seriously for European positions on a regular basis, and then we might be able to get some investment or a big old bank loan.
